HEALTH OFFICIALS in the northwest have urged sales assistants and publicans to be vigilant after a survey found that one out of three retail outlets sold cigarettes to a minor.
Up to 80 per cent of pubs and hotels in Sligo and Leitrim sold cigarettes to a 15 year old during a series of compliance checks carried out by the Environmental Health Service HSE West. The checks were carried out over the October mid-term break at 27 pubs, hotels, shops and supermarkets in the two counties.
The HSE said 23 per cent of shops and supermarkets sold cigarettes to a teenage girl while, overall, 33 per cent of the premises surveyed breached the law in this respect.
Rita O'Grady, HSE principal environmental health officer, said she was disappointed to see how easy it was for children to purchase tobacco products.
"It is interesting to note that most of the retail outlets tested also stocked alcohol for sale," said Ms O'Grady. "It can be assumed that if it is this easy to purchase cigarettes, it must also be easy to purchase alcohol."
The HSE said the compliance checks were carried out during the recent mid-term break when most schoolgoing children were off school and not dressed in school uniform. The 15-year-old girl who assisted in the survey was not wearing a school uniform.
Ms O'Grady said that in one pub a sales assistant had actually helped the child to put tokens, which had to be purchased at the bar, into the cigarette vending machine. "The idea of using tokens to purchase cigarettes from a vending machine is so that a young person must ask for the tokens, giving the retailer a chance to ask for identification," she said. "If coins only are used, a child can easily walk in from the street and use the vending machine unnoticed."
According to the HSE, when asked why they had sold cigarettes to a minor, most retailers said they or their staff thought the 15 year old looked 18 because of her height.
Ms O'Grady pointed out that another survey of secondary school children in the age group 15-17 years, carried out by the Environmental Health Service in Sligo and Leitrim, during October 2008, showed that 76 per cent of 15-year-old girls were over 5ft 4in which is the average height for an adult woman.
Researchers found that 46 per cent of 15-year-old boys were 5ft 11in or more in height.
Ms O'Grady said height and weight were not good indicators of age. She urged that any young person wanting to buy tobacco products such as
tobacco wraps, lighters or cigarettes should be asked for ID such as a national age card or a passport. If such ID is not available, the sale should be refused, she said.
